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The linux kernel adds the benefit of making firmware drivers available for a large number of widely-used hardware devices and components. This provides great convenience and ensures portability and sane defaults across the various OS distributions. The open-source nature of the Linux kernel, however, relies on the hardware manufacturers to make the firmware and/or drivers available to the Linux community; a process that can be frustratingly slow at times, depending on the hardware manufacturer. Furthermore, once the driver is included in the kernel, it falls on the various OS distributions to make the kernel or a patch to the kernel available for the users to install.
The functionality of rarely-used hardware like a multimedia card reader (SD-card reader) are often overlooked by users until the day when they try to use the device. Usually, the kernel will load the necessary modules for the device to function properly during the boot-up process. Though, if an SD-card is not …